THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611030071
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CINCINNATI LENGTH: 53 lines
Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed said Saturday that a massive grass-roots effort by his organization this weekend will help Republicans retain control of Congress and make the race for the White House close.
Critics, meanwhile, charged that the effort will be based on false and misleading guides distributed to voters.
The Chesapeake-based group today will mount the greatest political effort in its history, distributing 45 million voter guides in 125,000 churches and contacting 3 million to 5 million voters.
``Believe me, when you've got 100,000 volunteers and 125,000 churches and 45 million copies of anything, you've got a lot of activity going on,'' Reed said before meeting with about 100 Christian Coalition volunteers at a downtown Cincinnati hotel. ``There are meetings just like this happening in all 50 states today.''
The Christian Coalition's mightiest lobbying effort ever comes amid renewed criticism that the group's voter guides are deceptive and biased in favor of conservative candidates.
``The bottom line is that the Coalition's guides distort the issues, misrepresent the candidates' positions and even deceive voters about whether candidates replied to the Coalition's questionnaire,'' said Carole Freeman, president of People For The American Way, whose group conducted a survey of the voter guides. ``All told, the guides are a fraud, perpetuated by a plainly partisan group.''
The Rev. David Key, chairman of the Georgia Interfaith Alliance, said, ``These voter guides are not the nonpartisan, educational materials the Christian Coalition claims them to be.''
Key made his warnings clear in a letter mailed to 10,000 religious leaders across his state; the Christian Coalition intends to distribute 1.7 million voter guides in Georgia.
Reed said he was confident that the Republicans will stay in power in the House and Senate.
``Newt Gingrich will still be speaker of the house on Jan. 5, 1997,'' Reed said. ``I think the Republicans not only are going to retain control of the U.S. Senate, I think they are likely to pick up seats.''
Reed said that religious conservatives will help GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole.
``The presidential race is uphill, but it's closing. The scandals that are rocking the Clinton administration on a daily basis are clearly closing that race causing the Republican base to come home,'' Reed said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ralph Reed and the Chesapeake- based Christian Coalition begin the
group's mightiest election lobbying effort ever.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION U.S. CHRISTIAN COALITION
VOTER GUIDES PRESIDENTIAL RACE 1996 by CNB